Joan Kagezi
AWID Forum: Co-creating Feminist Futures
In September 2016, the 13th AWID international Forum brought together in Brazil over 1800 feminists and women’s rights advocates in a spirit of resistance and resilience.
This section highlights the gains, learnings and resources that came out of our rich conversations. We invite you to explore, share and comment!
What has happened since 2016?
One of the key takeaways from the 2016 Forum was the need to broaden and deepen our cross-movement work to address rising fascisms, fundamentalisms, corporate greed and climate change.
With this in mind, we have been working with multiple allies to grow these seeds of resistance:
- Our Seed Initiatives, has helped 20 ideas that emerged at the Forum to grow into concrete actions
- The video “Defending people and planet” and guide “Weaving resistance through action” put courageous WHRDs in the spotlight and present concrete strategies they use to confront corporate power.
- With our animations about the State of Our Feminist Movements and Climate and Environmental Justice, movements now have creative tools to support their advocacy work.
- The compiling artistic expressions of our #MovementsMatter series continues to inspire stronger and more creative organizing around the world.
- Movements can also benefit from new methodologies on Visioning Feminist Futures (Coming up soon!)
And through our next strategic plan and Forum process, we are committed to keep developing ideas and deepen the learnings ignited at the 2016 Forum.
What happens now?
The world is a much different place than it was a year ago, and it will continue to change.
The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).
We look forward to you joining us!
The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).
We look forward to you joining us!
About the AWID Forum
AWID Forums started in 1983, in Washington DC. Since then, the event has grown to become many things to many peoples: an iterative process of sharpening our analyses, vision and actions; a watershed moment that reinvigorates participants’ feminisms and energizes their organizing; and a political home for women human rights defenders to find sanctuary and solidarity.
Related Content
Snippet FEA This is the story of the Nadia Echazú (FR)
Un lieu de travail n'a pas à fonctionner sur la base de la concurrence et du profit. Un lieu de travail ne devrait pas exploiter les gens au profit d’autrui. C’est pourquoi les communautés marginalisées en dehors des économies formelles construisent des modèles coopératifs alternatifs basés sur l'autonomie, la coopération, la coresponsabilité, l'autogestion et la solidarité.
Les lieux de travail et coopératives autogérés par les travailleur·euses ont toujours offert d'autres moyens de générer des opportunités d'emploi, des revenus, une sécurité sociale et des épargnes, tout en distribuant les revenus de manière plus communautaire, durable et sûre.
Mais le coopérativisme c'est bien plus qu'une opportunité d'emploi: c'est la réalisation des rêves et la construction d’économies féministes basées sur la solidarité et l'entraide. C'est la création d’un monde où nos vies, notre travail et nos communautés comptent.
Voici l'histoire de la Coopérative Textile Nadia Echazú, la première coopérative créée et dirigée par et pour les personnes travesti et trans en Argentine.
#MeToo en Chine
Le mouvement #MeToo en Chine s'est enflammé en janvier 2018, impulsé par l'élan du mouvement #MeToo dans le monde entier. Le mouvement était une réponse aux problèmes culturels et systémiques liés au genre et au pouvoir en Chine. Les fondations du mouvement ont été construites pendant des décennies, avec de nombreuses années de débat et de plaidoyer pour l'égalité des genres qui ont finalement jailli en une formidable force à travers la société. #MeToo a été mené principalement par des jeunes, parmi lesquels d'innombrables femmes anonymes et leurs allié·e·s, à la recherche d’opportunités qui leur permettraient de réaliser le "rêve chinois" ultime : transformer la Chine en un pays où règne l'égalité des genres.
L'environnement du mouvement #MeToo est extrêmement hostile en Chine: l'état de droit, l'équité et la transparence de l'action gouvernementale, ainsi que la liberté d'expression ne peuvent être considérés comme acquis par le mouvement en Chine, mais ce sont ces mêmes objectifs pour lesquels i.e.lles se battent. Depuis le début, il s'agit d'une lutte intense, chaque victime ou activiste qui dénonce courre d’énormes risques. Qu'il s'agisse d'être réduit·e au silence, humilié·e, ou de subir des représailles, ou encore de voir sa sécurité mise en péril, chaque succès du mouvement #MeToo a été remporté par celleux qui ont eu le courage d'assumer les coûts de la prise de parole et de défier la censure.
L'exposition #MeToo en Chine a été organisée pour la première fois en 2019 et a effectué une tournée dans 5 villes. L'objectif de l'exposition est de mettre davantage en avant les expériences personnelles des victimes et des activistes et, en prenant part à ces histoires, d'inspirer notre public à se joindre à la lutte. L'exposition est elle-même devenue une partie de la lutte #MeToo; elle a fait face à d’innombrables défis lors de sa tournée à travers la Chine et a même risqué la fermeture à plus d'une occasion.
Should I do any preparation to respond to the survey?
As the WITM survey is focused on resourcing realities for feminist organizations, most questions ask about your group’s funding between 2021–2023. You will need to have this information with you to fill out the survey (e.g., your annual budgets and key sources of funding).
Cynthia Cockburn
Cynthia Cockburn was a feminist sociologist, writer, academic, photographer and peace activist.
She explored the gendered aspects of violence and conflict and made significant contributions to the peace movement through her exploration of the themes of masculinity and violence as well as her local and international activism.
Cynthia brought a feminist power analysis to militarisation and war, and was among the academics whose writings and analysis clearly demonstrated how gender-based violence played a key part in perpetuating war. Working closely with peace activists in countries experiencing conflict, her findings covered diverse contexts including Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel/Palestine, South Korea, Japan, Spain and the UK. She helped bring in her research and academic writings, an understanding that violence was experienced as a continuum of time and scale and perceived very differently when seen from a gendered lens.
In her words, “Gender helps us to see the continuity, the connection between instances of violence.”
Cynthia bridged her research with the activism she did locally and internationally with movements for demilitarisation, disarmament and peace. She helped start the Greenham Common women’s peace camp, which advocated for universal nuclear disarmament in Britain and was part of establishing the London chapter of Women in Black.
Over the decades, Cynthia organized and participated in local weekly vigils and the political choir Raised Voices, singing in the choir, and writing several of the lyrics to the songs that have made up its repertoire. She was also active in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the European Forum of Socialist Feminists as well as in Women Against Fundamentalism.
“Cynthia shed feminist light, wove together feminist communities, sang songs of peace, listened, listened, listened, watched the birds – and stopped traffic. I’ll be forever and gratefully in her debt, the other ‘Cynthia’” – Cynthia Enloe
Cynthia was born in July 1934 and passed away in September 2019 at the age of 85.
Snippet FEA Life expectancy of a trans and travesti (EN)
Life expectancy of a trans and travesti person in Argentina is 37 years old - the average age for the general population is 77.
Josefa "Gigi" Francisco
Tenderness is the Sharpest Resistance
A Film Series on Asian/Pacific Feminist Realities
Curated by Jess X. Snow With assistance from Kamee Abrahamian and Zoraida Ingles
Across Asia and the Pacific, and all of it’s vast diaspora, fierce women and trans folks have been fighting for a future where they can all be free. As rising sea levels threaten the Pacific islands, and the coasts of continental Asia, the fight to protect other Earth and the Ocean intensifies all over the globe. Our planet stores a geologic memory of everything that it has experienced. The rise of colonization, industrialization, and environmental destruction is connected to the rise of the binary patriarchal nation state. The power within the Earth, to reincarnate, heal, and bloom in the face of violence, must then be connected to the woman, to motherhood, to indigeneity and all forces that are expansive, sacred and queer. It is no coincidence that Feminist Realities unite the fight to protect the rights of women, trans and LGBTQ+ people with the fight to protect the Earth. From mother-daughter protectors of Mauna Kea in the Kingdom of Hawaii, to the complex mother-child relationships of Vietnamese refugees, to queer sexual awakenings in conservative India, the reclaimation of home in Inner Mongolia, to the struggle toward LGBTQ liberation in the Phillipines -- this collection of films is a cosmology of the ways current-day Asian Pacific women and queer and trans folks champion the journey to our collective liberation across oceans and borders.
All of these films have a strong sense of place: indigenous activists protect their sacred lands, youth peel back colonial narratives of their homeland to uncover hidden truths, complex motherhood and relations of care are explored, and characters turn to their own bodies and sexuality as sanctuary when the family and city that surrounds them threaten their safety.
AFTEREARTH
By Jess X. Snow
“A haunting film with stunning shots invoking feminist environmental resistance and how deeply rooted this is in connection to cultural history and land…”
- Jessica Horn, PanAfrican feminst strategist, writer and co-creator of the temple of her skin
In the experimental documentary, Afterearth, four women fight to preserve the volcano, ocean, land and air for future generations. Through music, poetry, and heartfelt testimonial that honors locations touched by the Pacific Ocean–Hawaiʻi, the Philippines, China, and North America, Afterearth is a poetic meditation on four women’s intergenerational and feminist relationship to the lands and plants they come from.
STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS
By Jalena Keane Lee
In Standing Above the Clouds, Native Hawaiian mother-daughter activists stand together to protect their sacred mountain, Mauna Kea from being used as a site to build one of the world’s largest telescopes. As protectors of Mauna Kea, this film highlights the interconnected relationship between Aloha ʻĀina (love of the land) and love for one’s elders and the future generations to come.
NƯỚC (WATER/HOMELAND)
By Quyên Nguyen-Le
In the experimental narrative short, Nước (Water/Homeland) a Vietnamese-American genderqueer teen challenges dominant narratives of the Vietnam War in Los Angeles, California. Through striking dream sequences and breaks from reality, this film follows their journey to piece together and understand their mother's experience as a Vietnam War refugee.
KAMA’ĀINA
By Kimi Lee
In Kama’āina, a queer sixteen-year-old girl must navigate life on the streets in Oahu, until she eventually finds refuge by way of guidance from an auntie at Pu’uhonua o Wai’anae–Hawaiʻi’s largest organized homeless encampment.
DEVI
By Karishma Dev Dube
In Devi (goddess in Hindi) a young closeted lesbian, Tara risks both family and tradition to embrace her attraction to her family’s maid. Set in New Delhi, Devi is a coming of age story, as it is a commentary on the social and class lines that divide women in contemporary India today.
HEADING SOUTH
By Yuan Yuan
In Heading South, Chasuna, an 8 year old girl, raised by her mother in the Inner Mongolian Plateau, visits her abusive father in the big city. While at her father’s house, she is introduced to a new addition to the family, and must come to terms with the fact that her true home is inseparable from her mother and land.
Outrun
By Johnny Symons & S. Leo Chiang
In the feature film, Outrun, we follow the journey of the first transgender woman in the Philippine Congress. Facing oppression in a predominantly Catholic nation, her triumphant journey becomes an outcry for the rights of LGBTQ+ people globally.
Spanning documentary, narrative, and experimental forms, these films illustrate that community care, self-love, and deep transformative listening between our loved ones is a portal to the Feminist Realities we are bringing into existence today. From all across the Asia Pacific and it’s diaspora, these stories teach us that in the face of violence, tenderness is the sharpest force of resistance.
Watch our conversation with the filmmakers
Jess X Snow:
Jess X. Snow is a film director, artist, pushcart-nominated poet, children’s book author and community arts educator who creates queer asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time.
Jess X. Snow is a film director, artist, pushcart-nominated poet, children’s book author and community arts educator who creates queer asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time.
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Sí, es absolutamente confidencial. Tus respuestas se borrarán al término del procesamiento y el análisis de los datos, y se utilizarán únicamente a los fines de la investigación. Los datos NUNCA se compartirán fuera de AWID y solo los procesarán el personal y consultorxs de AWID abocadxs al proyecto ¿Dónde está el dinero?
Damos prioridad a tu privacidad y anonimato. Los detalles de nuestra política de privacidad se encuentran disponibles aquí.
Hevrin Khalaf
Hevrin Khalaf fue una destacada líder política siria-kurda de la región autónoma de Rojava, donde las mujeres kurdas están arriesgando sus vidas para resistir la ofensiva turca y construir un sistema feminista.
Hevrin fue Secretaria General del Future Syria Party [Partido de la Futura Siria] (FSP, por sus siglas en inglés), un grupo que tenía como objetivo la construcción de puentes, la reconciliación entre diferentes grupos étnicos y el trabajo hacia una "Siria democrática, pluralista y descentralizada".
Hevrin fue un símbolo de este esfuerzo de reconciliación. También trabajó para promover la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres y fue una representante para periodistas, trabajadorxs de ayuda humanitaria y diplomáticxs que visitaban la región.
Hevrin era también una ingeniera civil de Derik, y fue una de las fundadoras de Foundation for Science and Free Though [(Fundación para la Ciencia y el Libre Pensamiento] en 2012.
El 12 de octubre de 2019 fue torturada y asesinada por la milicia Ahrar al-Sharqiya, sustentada por Turquía, durante una operación militar contra las Fuerzas Democráticas Sirias en Rojava.
"El asesinato de Khalaf es un punto de inflexión en la historia moderna de Siria. Demuestra una vez más el viejo proverbio kurdo "no hay amigxs sino montañas". Siempre seré amigo[NC1] de Khalaf y su visión de un mundo mejor." - Ahed Al Hendi
Snippet FEA Financial Precarities (ES)
es constante
Vivian Stromberg
Actores anti-derechos
Capítulo 4
Una red compleja de actores anti-derechos, en constante evolución, está ejerciendo cada vez más influencia en los espacios internacionales y en las políticas nacionales. Respaldados a menudo por financiaciones poco transparentes, estos actores construyen alianzas tácticas sobre distintos temas y cruzando diferentes regiones y credos para aumentar su impacto.
23.02.2018 I Congreso Internacional sobre Género, Sexo y Educación (#GenderAndSex Conference)
Estamos viendo actores fascistas y fundamentalistas que, si bien tienen un discurso nacionalista, son completamente transnacionales en lo que respecta a sus basamentos ideológicos, sus alianzas políticas y sus redes de financiamiento. En algunos casos, estos grupos están respaldados por flujos financieros poco transparentes vinculados con grandes empresas o con partidos políticos de extrema derecha. Sin embargo, también crean alianzas estratégicas, que incluyen, en algunos casos, segmentos de los movimientos feministas y por los derechos de las mujeres, y se distancian de los elementos más evidentemente extremistas para parecer más legítimos. Los actores anti-derechos también se expanden y replican su estilo de organización antiderechos (ya sea a través de campañas y grupos de presión, o de litigios estratégicos) en todo el planeta.
Índice de contenidos
- CitizenGo
- Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
- Financiación de actores antiderechos
- Los vínculos entre feministas trans-excluyentes y fundamentalistas cristianxs
- Ejercicio: Esquematicemos el panorama
- Historia de movimiento de resistencia: Catolicadas, una poderosa herramienta de comunicación para promover la igualdad de género y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos
Combien de réponses souhaitez-vous recueillir?
Notre objectif est de recueillir 2 000 réponses à l’enquête, soit près du double de la dernière enquête WITM de 2011.
Diana Isabel Hernández Juárez
Diana Isabel Hernández Juárez était une enseignante, défenseure des droits humains et activiste pour l’environnement et les communautés guatémaltèque. Elle coordonnait le programme environnemental de la paroisse de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, sur la côte sud du Guatemala.
Diana a dévoué sa vie à co-créer des actions de sensibilisation à l’environnement, en étroite collaboration avec les communautés locales, dans le but de résoudre les problèmes environnementaux et protéger les ressources naturelles. Elle a été à l’initiative de projets de pépinières forestières, de fermes municipales, de jardins familiaux et de campagnes de nettoyage. Active dans les programmes de reboisement, elle s’est efforçée de récupérer des espèces locales et de remédier aux pénuries d’eau dans plus de 32 communautés rurales.
Le 7 septembre 2019, Diana a été assassinée par balle par deux hommes armés inconnus alors qu’elle participait à une procession dans sa localité. Diana n’avait que 35 ans au moment de son décès.
Ana Maria Marcela Yarce Viveros
